Translator: Regina Anavy – Page 28

After a Pause Caused by the Effects of Hurricane Melissa, in Cuba the Dollar Rises Again

Officialdom has failed in its attempt to disqualify the publication of informal exchange rates by El Toque

El Toque explains that its information is based on advertisements and publications in networks collected daily. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, November 10, 2025 — As expected by the specialists, after a few days of truce in which its price began a rapid fall from 490 pesos to 410, the dollar is back up strongly on the informal market. The new war waged by the government against El Toque, which publishes daily sales rates in the streets, is of little use. If this Saturday the dollar had already started to rise to 415; the next day it cost 420 pesos and, this Monday, 430 pesos.

The independent media itself never tires of illustrating how it extracts the information it offers, most recently this Sunday. Far from operating as a denunciation of the regime, which accuses it of “speculative manipulation” serving the US as part of an “integral program of destabilization” and “usurping” the task of the Central Bank of Cuba, El Toque, without referring to this smear campaign, explains that its exchange rate is based on advertisements and publications in networks collected daily and from responses by users.

This is exemplified by the data collected on Saturday and Sunday. In the first graph they report the “histogram of published offers” and explain: “Most offers are concentrated between 410 and 430 CUP/USD, with an average point of 420 CUP,” which “indicates that the majority of participants in the market coincide in this price range.” The average, 421.81 pesos, is slightly above the median (420 CUP), which suggests that some providers are starting to request higher prices. This slight difference may indicate upward pressures; that is, an increase in the dollar rate.” continue reading

Towards the end of October, a change in trend is observed: requests for purchase (demand) increase, and sales offers decrease (offer)

In a second graph, they present supply and demand aggregates, showing the evolution of the number of people interested in buying or selling dollars over time. The figures, insists the media, “are based on amounts declared by users in their messages.” But they clarify: “Not all offers include precise amounts; therefore, the values presented constitute a sub-record of the actual movement; that is to say, the detectable minimum of transaction intentions. As a result, the total market volume is likely to be much larger.”

And they conclude: “During the month of October, the volume of transactions remained relatively stable. However, towards the end of the month a change in trend was observed. There was an increase in purchase requests (demand) and a decrease in sales offers (supply). This imbalance –more people willing to buy and fewer to sell — usually anticipates increases in the dollar price if the trend continues.”

The article recalls that economist Pavel Vidal, head of the Observatory of Currencies and Finance (OMFi), has also explained many times that movements in the informal exchange rate are given by the balance between supply and demand. “If the demand for dollars, euros or MLC (freely convertible currency) exceeds the supply — because many people or private enterprises seek foreign exchange to import, travel or protect their savings against inflation- the price of these currencies in Cuban pesos tends to rise. Conversely, if more people are willing to sell currencies than they are willing to buy — through increased remittances, tourism or a recent appreciation of the dollar- the rate may be lowered.” This is the basic law of supply and demand, which is practiced all over the world, except in Cuba, where the regime tries to ignore it without success.

It is also influenced by “expectations,” such as “rumors of new sanctions, announcements of regulatory changes for MSMEs, remittances or banking operations, as well as changes in monetary policy” and other factors, such as liquidity or financial regulations.

In the case of the drop that occurred last week, some experts associated with OMFi link it to the effects of Hurricane Melissa, specifically the sending of currency and donations to support the country and families.

In his report of last October, Pavel Vidal stated that the economic crisis on the island “has not yet hit rock bottom, and no possible exits are perceived in the short and medium term.” He ventured that the dollar could even exceed 500 pesos at the end of October, in an “extreme” scenario. Before the descent of the past days, it was close to reaching it.

Regardless of specific predictions, the scenario outlined by the Cuban economist, who resides in Colombia, for the unstoppable devaluation of the national currency remains valid. For example, there is the debacle of tourism, essential to foreign exchange earnings. Also, having cash is the only way to be able to buy in the dollarized stores, which are becoming more numerous. In addition, the energy crisis and the “very limited access” to inputs and financing negatively affect production, which increases the dependence on imports. “Mistrust in the future of the economy and the Government’s ability to face the crisis” causes capital flight and encourages the “accumulation of savings” in hard currencies.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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More Than 2,000 People Evacuated For Fear of a Dam Breaking in Cuba’s Granma Province

The number of evacuees is expected to reach 5,000 or 7,000 in the next few hours

Evacuees in Cauto Embarcadero, Granma, faced with the danger of flooding. / Facebook/Radio Bayamo

14ymedio, Havana, October 31, 2025 — Cuba’s National Civil Defense General Staff maintains an alert status for the municipalities of Río Cauto and Cauto Cristo in Granma province, unlike the rest of Granma province and Santiago de Cuba, which are already in the “recovery” phase. According to the most recent report issued this Friday, both locations “continue to experience a complex hydrological situation, and efforts to protect the population are ongoing.”

Here’s the “complexity”: more than 2,000 people residing in Guamo, Granma, and other nearby towns have been evacuated in an emergency due to the abrupt rise of the Cauto River and the possibility that the dam will overflow as a result of the rains brought by Hurricane Melissa since Wednesday in eastern Cuba.

The decision has even affected residents in Jobabo, Las Tunas, and it is expected that more people will continue to arrive throughout the day, up to 5,000 or 7,000 according to some reports. The residents of Cauto Embarcadero, Melones and Cayama will be added to those evacuated, according to the local radio station Radio Cabaniguán.

The authorities have warned the population of “extreme danger” and insist that they should not return to their homes until instructed, as some people who have tried have ended up having to be rescued. The alert will remain in effect for the next few hours because the peak water level is expected up to 72 hours after the rain stops in the river’s headwaters.

Las Tunas welcomes evacuees from Granma. / Radio Cabaniguán

This Wednesday, Miguel Díaz-Canel, dressed in olive green, visited the area. The president, who had previously been in Holguín, presented himself at the University of Granma, which has been set up as a reception center for 312 residents from various communities in the municipality of Cauto CrisEste.

José Ramón Castro Benítez, representative of the Communist Party of Cuba in the municipality of Granma, explained to the official press that 380 people, including 145 children and 159 women, were transferred to Bayamo, and another 68 are at the Simón Bolívar School of Physical Education Teachers.

“I can’t say much, because this was horrible, horrible, horrible,” a resident from Veguitas in Yara told the newspaper. “My family is fine, but there are many, many people who have lost everything, because they continue reading

did not expect it to be so powerful.” The water, he says, miraculously did not enter his house. “All of Veguitas was covered in water, for more than 12 hours.”

As phone service was restored, residents of Veguitas began sending images of the area to their loved ones. “I’m shocked to see how high the water is, how it’s flooded into the houses,” a Havana resident told 14ymedio, commenting on photos he received from a cousin. “The river was just a trickle there, and people there think they released the dam, that something broke, because the flooding was sudden.”

“All of our meat is thawing.”

In Holguín, residents lament that everything is “chaos” and going “from bad to worse.” One resident told 14ymedio that the Electric Company is not providing any information about the work being done to restore power. “There’s no electricity even in the most privileged areas,” he asserted.

The provincial government has also taken no measures to alleviate the dramatic supply situation, and with private businesses closed, “they aren’t even selling food packages or anything to the people.” He concludes: “All our meat is is thawing.”

The United Nations estimates that there are currently around 700,000 people affected—20% of the residents in the affected provinces—who will require basic support for at least three months. Various NGOs and multilateral agencies are raising funds.

Melissa’s journey through Cuba can be traced by connecting on the map the towns that suffered the most damage from the floods or remain partially submerged, with residents doubly isolated by the water and the disruption of electricity and telecommunications. These are, from south to north: Bayamo, Jiguaní, Cauto Cristo, Contramaestre, Cauto, Cacocum, Urbano Noris, and Yara.

Evacuated in Cauto Embarcadero, Granma, due to the risk of flooding. / Facebook/Radio Bayamo

The Electric Union says that some 3.5 million Cubans – the vast majority of the population of the five eastern provinces – are without electricity.

The region’s main generation units (two thermoelectric plants and one fuel-fired power plant) were not seriously damaged, but the distribution lines have suffered from broken cables and fallen poles, and their repair will take days, especially in the less accessible areas.

Damage to telecommunications is also significant, according to the Ministry of Telecommunications, which reported that 75% of mobile lines in the eastern region were left without service after Hurricane Melissa. The telecommunications monopoly Etecsa indicated that repairs have begun on some fiber optic cables severed by the floods, but that most radio base stations (telecommunications antennas) are inoperative after being damaged by the hurricane or due to power outages.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Zinc Sheets of Eliecer’s House Moved ‘Like a Maraca,’ but He Survived Melissa

In El Cobre, only the brick dwellings resisted; the hurricane damaged the stained glass windows of the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Charity and tore off doors and windows

14ymedio, Havana/ Madrid, 30 October 2025 — The Cuban Government holds its breath as populations remain incommunicado 24 hours after Hurricane Melissa passed. No fatalities have been reported so far, but Miguel Díaz-Canel, who last night accused those asking about deaths of being “vultures,” does not close the door to that possibility. “There may be some deceased and we will report it with all honesty,” he said, delivering a diatribe against those who are “thinking or looking for the people’s pain as an argument to try to demoralize, to try to disunite, to try to discredit what this country has done with its heroic people.”

The Cuban leader was at the head of a meeting of the National Defense Council, broadcast on State TV’s Mesa Redonda [Round Table] program, in which material damage was quantified. The testimonies collected in the east of the island were frightening, such as that of Eliécer, 43 years old, interviewed by the Spanish agency EFE. He had given himself up for dead several times when he saw the zinc slabs of his house in Guamá shaking “like a maraca. The house was shuddering, and I said, “Well, Lord, put out your mighty hand. You know what to do.’ If I die, at least I die alone,” he said. His company was his cat and his dog, drowned when the height of the water exceeded three feet.

His wife was among the more than 735,000 evacuees — to Santiago in this case — but he, he claims, “underestimated the hurricane. The EFE correspondent, who was able to reach the area, speaks of a devastating panorama, full of trees thrown along the road and the great darkness that hung over last night due to the lack of electricity, which complicated the reconnection of the hundreds of thousands of people who are without telephones in the affected area. continue reading

“If I die, at least I die alone,” he said. His company was his cat and his dog, drowned when the height of the water exceeded three feet.

In some cases, roofs have blown off; in others, the whole house is gone. The difficult situation of Vilma Cabrera falls into the second category of cases, whose miserable makeshift shack in the mountains, her only possession, was crushed by a banana tree in the middle of the mud that surrounded it. “My blood pressure went up early in the morning,” she says. Her home had not yet recovered from Sandy’s passage in 2012, and now this. The rest of her neighbors are in the same situation.

It is no surprise when it is known that the National Sanctuary of Our Lady of Charity of Copper, a building more robust and cared for than the precarious small houses in the area, has been “very damaged” and needs help, according to Rogelio Dean Puerta, rector and parish priest of the sanctuary. The religious leader mentioned — without details — the death of an elderly person in the area in a note made public yesterday, but has not talked anymore about victims, either to the official or the foreign press, with which he has contact, either because the death was not linked to the event or for some other reason.

The church will resume religious activity, he said hopefully, although the hurricane “damaged half of the stained glass windows of the basilica, the carpentry, tore out doors and windows… It has been a night of much pain and tension. Hurricane Melissa hit the town of El Cobre with incredible force. Elders say they have never seen anything like this before,” he said. The municipality was left, according to his words, “devastated, practically only houses with brick roofs remained undamaged.” However, rescue teams were finally able to arrive yesterday afternoon and took the neighbors to shelters.

The preliminary damage assessment was done province by province, although there are still isolated mountain and rural areas.

Generally, the hurricane left over 400 millimeters of water in six locations and over a 100 in 72 locations. The worst waves reached six meters and the winds were devastating. On its way to the Bahamas, Melissa is still raining, but conditions will improve throughout the day, said the president of the Institute of Meteorology, Celso Pazos Alberdi.

The floods have been severe in Granma, where, in the words of the first secretary of the Communist Party, Yudelkis Ortiz, “all the rivers overflowed their banks.” More than 126,000 people have been evacuated and some 50 who were trapped have had to be rescued. The worst has been in Bartolomé Masó, Guisa, Yara, Buey Arriba, Campechuela, Niquero and Bayamo, but there are up to 13 more municipalities with damages.

Beatriz Jhonson Urrutia, president of the Provincial Defense Council of Santiago de Cuba, mentioned the 17 trapped in El Cobre who were given refuge by a doctor, all of them finally safe. Palma Soriano, San Luis, Guamá and the capital city are the most affected populations, although there are serious damages to economic sectors, including coffee and yucca. Tourism was also affected, with some initial damage at the Antonio Maceo airport (now operating) and damage to the infrastructure of hotels, like the Gran Piedra.

In Holguín, which had to protect 275,572 people, more than half in family homes, and 1,900 tourists, 109 million cubic meters of water fell in eight hours of rain. A record for the province, said First Party Secretary Joel Queipo Ruiz. In Cueto there are more than 30 houses completely submerged, although the families had been evacuated.

Finally, in Guantánamo, which had 34% of the protected population (152,180 people), 85% of the reservoirs were flooded in just 12 hours. Coffee and groceries, along with problems in telecommunications and housing, are now the most affected. While Las Tunas wasn’t the worst, and although some houses and crops (banana and corn) had partial problems, the rains have almost brought relief by filling empty reservoirs.

The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, appeared to say that there was no damage to the thermoelectric power plants in the area –Antonio Maceo, Renté, in Santiago de Cuba, and Lidio Ramón, Felton, in Holguín — and that both were reconnected. However, 3.5 million people were left without electricity and many hours of blackouts. The official was pleased with the result of protecting the solar panels, since, he says, the impact has been minimal (four in total were damaged in Las Tunas).

However, 3.5 million people were left without electricity and many hours of blackouts

Other infrastructure affected were the Etecsa lines, both fixed and mobile and fiber-optic, and it will take days to repair the infrastructure because of the fallen branches, trees, poles and towers. In total, 75% of the inhabitants of eastern Cuba are offline. Hospitals, educational centers and roads are also damaged.

The program was extended for many more minutes to address recovery, including for education, which does not yet have a timetable to resume classes. It will take many days to assess the damage and start preparing a response program that many distrust, since they have spent 13 years waiting for help after the passage of Hurricane Sandy, as did the woman interviewed by EFE, Vilma Cabrera, who now returns to square one without ever having left.

However, there was still more to come. With the satisfaction of having so far no dead to lament, the vote of the UN General Assembly on the resolution against the embargo, which again won by 165 votes in favor, 12 abstentions and seven against, was a bitter victory for the regime. Despite an overwhelming majority in favor of the resolution, it achieved its worst ever result.

“Everyone also knows how some of these votes were obtained, because there are always submissive, enthusiastic people like those who promise to make their country great again in the image and likeness of the god they have already chosen to serve and we know well who we are talking about. There are also those who are under the weight of economic needs that chose to abstain,” said Díaz-Canel. The president subsequently gave a very long speech thanking the officials involved in Civil Defense and the ministers. And he finished, of course, quoting “Fidel and Raúl, creators, builders and defenders of the Revolution that unites us and makes us proud.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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At Least 140,000 People Are Incommunicado in Santiago De Cuba After the Passage of Hurricane Melissa

There is concern about the overflow of the tributaries of the river Sagua, in Holguín, whose flooding in previous days already claimed the lives of two people

Santiago de Cuba at dawn, after the passage of Melissa. / Luis Alberto Portuondo

14ymedio, Havana, October 29, 2025 — This Wednesday Santiago de Cuba became the gateway for Melissa, which some meteorologists have described as “the hurricane of the century,” and which still has the population in suspense. Five hours after the hurricane entered through Chivirico, a few miles from the capital city, Civil Defense began to quantify the damage. There are still 241 communities with more than 140,000 people who are incommunicado, and some 3.5 million are without electricity, according to official data.

The areas of greatest concern are Segundo Frente, Songo-La Maya and Tercero Frente, where the flow of the rivers suddenly increased, obstructing communications. In addition, Contramaestre, where strong winds were reported, also has numerous blocked roads, as do the communities of Guaninao and Ruta Martiana.

Some 284,000 people were “protected” throughout the province, especially in Aserradero and Guamá, where maximum winds have reached over 125 mph, with higher gusts. The waves are more than 13 feet high, and fear and desperation are spreading among relatives of the residents in Chivirico, who keep calling phones that can’t get a signal. “What we’re going through without knowing about our families is maddening,” said one user on Facebook, the most popular app for posting news and sharing landlines while they are in operation.

https://www.facebook.com/luis.alberto.portuondo.ortega/posts/795540766620378?ref=embed_post

The winds and rains in Santiago “covered the entire territory,” said the head of Civil Defense. The eye was over the small towns of Palma Soriano heading towards Mangos de Baraguá, where it crossed to Holguín. The winds created flying roofs and downed telephone lines; the damage to infrastructure will take longer to assess.

In Holguín it is still early to start assessing the damage, since the hurricane has not left its territory – and the island – but the winds have hit Mayarí very hard, and the water continues to rise. After days of flooding by the river continue reading

Sagua, in Sagua de Tánamo – which left two dead – the riverbed was already at the point of overflow, which seems to have reached its tributaries. There is talk of accumulated rainfall “higher than historical records,” and it has not stopped raining.

Information is missing in Guantánamo, where winds have been around 68 mph and neighbors were talking about disasters. “In my block the water tanks are even rolling around. I think Guantánamo is falling apart.” “There is a lot of sustained wind and huge bursts, many roofs flying everywhere.” “Very strong winds. It feels like we’re on the beach and the waves are crashing. I’ve never felt this way, that outside the world is ending,” they report. Some have expressed their discomfort at the lack of prominence of their province in the morning news reports.

https://www.facebook.com/cubadebate/posts/1237029495126206?ref=embed_post

Yudelkis Ortiz Barceló, president of the Provincial Defense Council of Granma, reported that the reservoirs were still collecting water. No overflows were reported as of 7:00 in the morning, but the situation was very tense. “We ask the population once again not to despair, to remain safe. Only life will give us the chance to move forward, to get out of this situation. Strength, Granma,” she said.

The first reports, provided by the governor, Yanetsy Terry Gutierrez, show damage to a high percentage of homes and public and private institutions in Jiguaní, where the river overflowed and destroyed everything. Landslides, obstructions of mountain roads and roof losses are common in the countryside and the city while the rains persist.

Meanwhile, in Camagüey, the day has been less alarming than expected, according to 14ymedio sources. “Here it has not rained, there is no wind or anything. Three drops of rain throughout the morning. Sometimes you hear a breeze that is not even wind. The power came on for one hour at 12:30 am and went off at 10 in the morning the night before. We loaded up everything, filled the water tank and made today’s rice. Then at 5 am the power came back on but was gone at 7:30 am. So far, we are better than we thought we would be,” they told this newspaper.

At the moment, rainfall accumulations of up to 6 inches have been recorded, although the Institute of Meteorology has warned that in mountainous areas it could reach 18 inches. The recorded maximum winds reached 116 mph, although in most affected cities they range between 44 and 74 mph, with higher gusts.

The strong storm surges, with waves of up to 26 feet and “moderate to heavy flooding in low-lying areas of this coast,” will continue for a few more hours.

The official press has reported that UNICEF, a United Nations children’s organization, has started delivering humanitarian aid to people in shelters. The initial forecast is to reach 21,000 children and 6,000 adults placed in protection centers with hygiene kits to prevent diseases, water purification plants and tanks, waterproof blankets, roofs for temporary shelters and kits with games for children.

“It has been a very complex morning, with extensive damage, and hurricane Melissa is still on Cuban territory,” wrote Miguel Díaz-Canel this morning, urging the population to remain cautious.

“We have prepared for the worst-case scenario and the measures have been effective,” he said after a video conference with officials of the Communist Party of Cuba in which the damage is being assessed on a preliminary basis.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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A Russian Plane Accused of Transporting Weapons Through the US Completes the Caracas-Havana-Managua Route

Before crossing the Atlantic, the cargo plane stopped in Armenia, Algeria, Morocco, Senegal and Mauritania

The Ilyushin Il-76 has the capacity to transport up to 50 tons of cargo / Pexels

EFE (via 14ymedio), Washington, October 29, 2025 — An Ilyushin Il-76 air cargo carrier of the Russian company Aviacom Zitotrans, sanctioned by the US for participating in the arms trade and transport of mercenaries, left from Havana this Wednesday for Managua, after landing earlier in Caracas. This route among allies takes place in a climate of military tensions with the US naval and air deployment off the Venezuelan coast.

The Il-76 is capable of carrying up to 50 tons of cargo and is one of the largest cargo planes in the world, similar to the Airbus military A400M and Boeing’s C-17 Globemaster.

According to data from the website Flightradar, the Russian plane, which flew part of its route with the transponder off so as not to be identified, took off this morning from Havana. On Tuesday, October 28, it operated between Caracas and Havana, and on the 26th it landed in the Venezuelan capital, continue reading

coming from Mauritania.

The Russian plane, which flew part of its route with the transponder off so as not to be identified, took off this morning from Havana

Before crossing the Atlantic, the cargo plane stopped in Armenia, Algeria, Morocco, Senegal and Mauritania.

The Russian company Aviacon Zitotrans is accused by the US of being involved in transporting military materiel and supporting the Russian defense sector, as well as supporting the deployment of mercenaries of the so-called Wagner Group, designated by the US as a transnational criminal organization.

The US added Aviacon Zitotrans to the list of entities sanctioned in January 2023 for transporting light weapons, missiles and helicopter parts, with special emphasis on logistical support to Venezuela and military operations in Africa.

The fleet of Aviacon Zitotrans includes six Ilyushin cargo planes. The one that made this last route between Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua is registered RA-78765 and is one of the aircraft specifically named in the US sanctions, so it is subject to intervention if it enters the jurisdictions of the US or its closest allies.

It is one of the aircrafts specifically named in US sanctions and therefore subject to intervention

This air movement occurs in the midst of massive US reinforcement in the Caribbean and off the coast of Venezuela, where several destroyers and amphibious assault ships are already operating. In the next few days the attack group of the carrier USS Gerald Ford, the largest and most modern in the US Navy, is expected to arrive.

Analysts see this massive US deployment, which includes overflights near the Venezuelan airspace of strategic bombers, as an attempt to pressure the government of Nicolás Maduro to accept a negotiated exit. However, in public, the main reason given by the White House is its campaign to combat fentanyl trafficking.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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The Cuban Regime Obtains the Worst Result in History on Its Resolution Against the US ‘Blockade’ at the UN

In addition to the US and Israel, five other countries rejected the motion with 12 abstentions

The resolution against US sanctions on Cuba has no binding effect / X

14ymedio, Madrid, October 29, 2025 — The resolution promoted by the Cuban Government at the United Nations, entitled The need to end the economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed by the United States of America against Cuba, received 165 votes in favor, 7 against and 12 abstentions. Although the island’s chancellor, Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, described the result on the social network X as a “victory for Cuba,” it is actually the worst diplomatic show of support for Cuba in the history of these votes.

Since the text was first introduced in 1992, it has never received more than four votes against. On this occasion, the usual ones – the United States and Israel – were joined by Argentina, Paraguay, North Macedonia, Hungary and Ukraine. Abstentions – 12 in total – have not reached a similar figure since 1998. The countries that chose to abstain were Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Morocco, Moldova, Romania and Poland.

Although the resolution maintains a majority condemnation of the US embargo, the most significant political fact is the change in the diplomatic trend towards Cuba. Several Latin American and European states that traditionally supported Havana have begun to distance themselves from its historical position.

Since 1992, with the exception of 2020, when it was not presented because of the pandemic, the General Assembly has voted on this text almost every year, with always overwhelming results. The resolution initially received 59 votes in favor and 71 abstentions, but since 2005 support has regularly continue reading

exceeded 180 countries.

The official narrative of “blockade victim” is eroding against the evidence of more than six decades of authoritarian control

The moment of greatest consensus was recorded in 2016, when 191 states supported the resolution and none voted against it, coinciding with the rapprochement between Barack Obama and Raul Castro. However, since 2017 Washington resumed its negative vote along with Israel, reissuing the traditional diplomatic confrontation. In 2024, the resolution received 187 votes in favor, so this year’s collapse reflects a substantial loss of support for Havana in just twelve months.

This shift occurs in the midst of an unprecedented economic and social crisis on the island, with chronic shortages, blackouts, the collapse of health services and a mass migration exodus. Although the embargo continues to affect the country’s economy, the official narrative of “blockade victim” is eroding against the evidence of more than six decades of authoritarian control, repression of dissent and absence of structural reforms.

During the preliminary discussion, the delegations of Cuba and the US engaged in a bitter exchange. Rodriguez interrupted US ambassador Mike Waltz, accusing him of “lying in a rude manner” and expressing himself with a “rudeness and arrogance” inappropriate for the forum. Waltz replied that the Cuban regime “oppresses its own people” and uses the country’s resources to maintain the “elite status” of its leaders, calling the government in Havana an “illegitimate communist legislature.”

In total, the UN has adopted 33 resolutions of this kind, with a symbolic rather than practical scope. The Cuban regime has turned the “blockade” issue into a pillar of its beleaguered plaza rhetoric, which it uses to justify internal failure, solicit donations, negotiate debt deferrals and keep its diplomatic machinery active. But the loss of support in the UN suggests that international patience with Havana is running out, and that the talk of the embargo is no longer enough to cover up the deep crisis of legitimacy of the Cuban system.

Translated by Regina Anavy
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Cubans Reinforce Their Homes, Working Against Against the Clock Before the Arrival of Hurricane Melissa

It remains a dangerous category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, as it heads for the Island
“We know that there will be a lot of damage caused by this hurricane,” warns President Miguel Díaz-Canel

Cubans walk olong the sea this Tuesday in Santiago de Cuba, while Melissa advances toward the Island. / EFE

14ymedio / Havana/ Holguín, Miguel García, October 28, 2025 — “I have spent the day nailing doors and windows,” a resident of Holguín told 14ymedio. He adds that they are preparing the best they can to survive Hurricane Melissa, although they have not had time to follow the details of its trajectory due to a poor internet connection and blackouts. His house has brick walls, but he doesn’t want anything to surprise him and endanger his family.

Melissa made landfall this Tuesday near New Hope, Jamaica, with sustained maximum winds of 185 mph. A probe was able to capture a burst of 252 mph inside the hurricane. Its central pressure dropped to 892 hectoPascal, so it remains a dangerous category 5 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson scale, as it heads east towards Cuba.

At least 7 people have died so far: 3 in Jamaica, 3 in Haiti and 1 in the Dominican Republic. Authorities fear that the number of casualties may increase as more damage reports come in.

From Jamaica, a Cuban doctor wrote on her social networks: “I tell the people in eastern Cuba: this is too much for Cuba. It is too much for you, my dear people.”

In the municipality of Palma Soriano, province of Santiago de Cuba, Katia, 51 years old, says that no one has slept at home: “We removed the mattresses from the beds and sent them to some neighbors who have a house that is stronger than ours, the same with the refrigerator,” she reports by phone to 14ymedio. The family has set two clear priorities: keeping the children safe and preserving their most valuable assets. continue reading

“We are not going to evacuate because here when people leave their homes, the danger of being robbed is high,” she says. “These walls are strong, our problem is the roof: one part is board and the other has a light cover. We’ve blocked the blinds with boards and tried to keep the water tank above the bathroom full, so it doesn’t blow away in the wind. We’re avoiding wasting the rechargeable batteries for our flashlights and mobile phones.

“Yesterday people stocked up on everything they could. There were lines in front of the MSMEs* that sell food, and trucks and tricycles were carrying boxes and large packages.”/ 14ymedio

Niurka can listen to local FM radio stations with a headphone attached to her cell phone as an antenna. “This has given us luck because we have had many blackouts in recent days and being informed has been difficult. At least we now know that the creature is coming here and has an impressive size,” she says about Melissa.

In the city of Holguín it’s hard to find something to buy this Tuesday. “Yesterday people stocked up on everything they could. There were lines in front of the MSMEs that sell food, and trucks and tricycles were carrying boxes and large packages,” says Rodolfo, driver of an electric vehicle that transports passengers and goods. He decided not to go to work today, preferring to be employed in reinforcing his home’s security.

“Luckily my little house is attached to others and that protects us,” he explains. ” I spent my life complaining about the neighbors who play their music too loud and sometimes even wake up the kid with their screaming, but today that is the greatest security I have to confront the wind.” In the event that the electricity is cut off for several days and food becomes more scarce, neighborhood solidarity will also be important.

“In previous hurricanes we improvised a pot of soup on the block and that saved us,” he recalls. This kind of support will be more important on this occasion. “There are many old people who are alone in this neighborhood. Some have been evacuated to other houses, but others have no one who can help, so we will take turns looking after them.”

Rodolfo’s sister, a newly graduated doctor, is being evacuated to the Vladimir Ilyich Lenin General University Hospital along with other health workers. “She took a couple of changes of clothes because this can last for a long time.” The tricycle with which he earns his living now occupies most of the space in the room. “Usually I keep it in an open carport outside, but this time I cannot risk it. If a tree falls on top, my way to earn a living is lost.”

“Luckily my little house is attached to others and that protects us.” / 14ymedio

His decision coincides with the advice offered on Facebook by an architect in Guatánamo with experience in natural disasters. The expert warns that winds from 155 to 186 mph are strong enough to destroy even houses made of reinforced concrete, so nobody should underestimate their power. He also explains that wood or brick dwellings with thin ceilings are extremely vulnerable, as the wind can tear off roofs and knock down structures, especially in rural areas or isolated buildings. In these cases, the recommendation is to evacuate immediately to someplace safe and not assume that thick or concrete walls will provide protection.

Only concrete dwellings with heavy roofs and in good structural condition could provide some safety if they are away from the shore. In coastal areas or where the sea is at least 656 feet high, even solid houses should be evacuated, as the waves can cause more damage than the wind, says the specialist.

On Tuesday, President Miguel Díaz-Canel, who chairs the National Defense Council, released a statement calling on Cubans to avoid deaths and serious damage in the face of the next powerful impact of hurricane Melissa on the east of the island.

We know that there will be a lot of damage caused by this storm, but we will have the capacity to recover in food production, housing, and also in the the economy,” said the president in a message broadcast on state television.

“No one should venture to swim in the swollen rivers; no one should return home from the places of evacuation when the indications for returning or going to the recovery phase have not yet been given in each of the territories,” advised the first secretary of the Communist Party, who described the preparatory work at all levels as “intensive and responsible.”

Neighborhood residents in Santiago called the Communal Services, but “they responded that the truck can’t come. There is no fuel and the ones that work are going to Guamá. / Facebook / Yaya Panoramix

For his part, José Daniel Ferrer, leader of the Patriotic Union of Cuba (UNPACU) and recently exiled in Miami, shared a video from Santiago de Cuba where you can hear “the hammering of people trying to secure their homes in order to cope with Hurricane Melissa.” Some 168,900 people have been evacuated in this province to 101 centers set up for that purpose.

Actress Dayana Figueroa, known on social networks as Yaya Panoramix, complained on Facebook that the garbage threatens to cause obstructions in the sewage system of her neighborhood in Santiago de Cuba, “a few blocks from Céspedes Park.” She says that the neighbors called the local authorities, but “they replied that the truck can’t come. There is no fuel and those that work are going to Guamá.” Aware that her neighborhood is often flooded, she concluded, “My family is in danger.”

From Yateras, in Guantánamo, official profiles defend the use of caves in the mountains to house vulnerable people. Meanwhile, Melissa is moving north-northeast and has slightly increased its travel speed by 9 mph. It is expected to lose some strength as it crosses Jamaica and arrive with a lesser category on Cuban soil between Tuesday and Wednesday.

Over the next 24 hours, Melissa should tilt its trajectory further to the northeast, gradually increasing its speed. The external bands of this hurricane are already affecting the eastern region of Cuba, generating showers and rain, which will increase in the afternoon from Camagüey to Guantánamo. Rainfall will be strong and intense, mainly in mountainous areas, with accumulations between 7.5 and 17.7 inches over the next 24 hours.

*Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises [mipyme in Spanish], generally privately operated

Translated by Regina Anavy

A New Card and the Same Trick: Cuban Doctors in Angola Still Can’t Collect Their Pay in Dollars

The authorities advance a new payment mechanism to settle complaints, but the doctors still demand payment in dollars

Cuban doctors in Angola say the authorities have held onto their dollars for years / Cubadebate

14ymedio, Havana. Natalia López Moya, October 28, 2025 — “We are somewhat resigned, but not at all in agreement,” said Héctor, a Cuban doctor in Angola who participated in the meeting on October 23 between health workers and representatives of Antex, the Cuban company that manages the missions in the African country. The meeting, held in Luanda, served to announce a new payment mechanism through the Classic card, which maintains restrictions on access to dollars and thwarts the hopes of health workers to be able to recover their money in that currency.

The meeting took place in a tense atmosphere, albeit with fewer complaints than on previous occasions. “It’s not that we have given up, but people have now realized that these officials aren’t going to do anything; it’s like talking to a wall,”explains the doctor, using a pseudonym for fear of reprisals. According to his statement, the document read during the meeting had already been leaked days before, so the attendees arrived “more than informed.”

The official text stated that, beginning October 20, Cuban professionals in Angola and Algeria can transfer the savings accumulated in their accounts in freely convertible currency (MLC) to a Classic card, with which they will be able to buy in dollar stores, acquire a car and pay for fuel at foreign currency gas stations.

The change does not solve the main problem: the impossibility of withdrawing dollars in cash from Cuba

However, the change does not solve the main problem: the impossibility of withdrawing dollars in cash from Cuba. “This has changed nothing,” says Hector. The availability of dollars still depends on the bank, and the answer is always the same: we don’t have any.” continue reading

The measure was to be implemented in January 2026, but it was brought forward by growing unrest among the health workers, tired of collecting pay in a devalued currency. “All this prevents us from making plans for housing, investment or migration,” laments Héctor, who is about to finish his mission after more than three years. “The MLC is worth much less than the dollar, and the balance in a Classic card is also below. In the end we lose money on every transaction.”

The currency gap is confirmed by the informal market: while the dollar is quoted this Tuesday at 485 Cuban pesos, the MLC barely reaches 200, and the money in a Classic card equals 446. “We can forget about a part of our savings; that money evaporates in the many deals we have to do to get the cash,” he concludes.

For months, a number of health workers had been confident that the authorities would allow direct payment in dollars or kwanzas (Angolan currency), to later buy dollars in the local market. But the decision of the Cuban government, advanced this week, fell like “a bucket of cold water” on these expectations.

In September, the professionals received only half their monthly payment in kwanzas, about $200

The discomfort is aggravated by other failures. In September, professionals received only half their monthly payment in kwanzas -about $200- and in October the disbursement was further delayed. Some doctors have not yet been paid. ” People are demoralized, but also scared,” says another health worker in Luanda. “They have tried to divide us and scare us so that no one protests.”

The clearest warning came a few days ago from Cuba’s Ministry of Public Health, which officially called the doctors who criticize the system or report irregularities “ingrates and traitors.” It was like a direct message, says the doctor. Anyone who complains risks being sent back to Cuba and losing their savings.”

The discontent had reached such a point that a group of collaborators drafted a letter to the Cuban Public Prosecutor’s Office, on behalf of all, demanding payment in foreign currency and better working conditions. At the center of their complaints is Antex, a subsidiary of the military conglomerate Gaesa, sanctioned by the US Office for Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Antex manages a wide range of businesses in Angola, from road construction, airfield repairs and travel agencies to managing medical missions.

The discontent had reached such a point that a group of collaborators wrote a letter to the Cuban Public Prosecutor’s Office

In July, the professionals also sent a letter to Miguel Díaz-Canel, denouncing “non-compliance with the form of payment established in the contract” and demanding access to their funds in dollars deposited on the island. There was no response. Instead of rectifying, says another doctor, “what they have done is give us another plastic card but no cash dollars, nothing.”

Most of them have lost hope of a change. “They don’t want to give up the money, says Héctor. They have kept our currency for years and will not return it, even if that costs them more complaints in the meetings.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Almost 650,000 Cubans Await Evacuation Due to Category 5 Hurricane Melissa

Insmet forecasts that the storm will hit the eastern part of the island on Tuesday night.

Evacuations in eastern Cuba to address the threat of Melissa. / Facebook

Nearly 650,000 people in eastern Cuba must be prepared to evacuate or protect themselves from the upcoming impact of Hurricane Melissa -which this Monday rose to Category 5, the highest on the Saffir-scaleSimpson-, reported Miguel Díaz-Canel this Sunday after an expanded meeting of the National Defense Council. He stressed that “the main goal is to protect the population” and ordered “the evacuation of all people who are downstream from the dams, reservoirs and all flood zones.”

“We are working intensively for the rest of Sunday and Monday, ensuring peace of mind for the worst possible situation. This event will come at night or in the early hours, and what we don’t do now will be lost later,” he said. He also called for “special attention” to the most vulnerable population and to securing primary health services and the epidemiological surveillance system.

Díaz-Canel asked the population to maintain “constant communication” with neighbors, using “all possible ways, especially in the midst of the country’s electrical situation.” Many citizens live almost on the fringes of what is to come, going days without electricity, especially in the eastern zone where Melissa will land, which prevents them from watching continue reading

television or having access to other sources of news.

Many citizens live almost on the fringes of what is to come, going days without electricity, especially in the eastern zone where Melissa will land, which prevents them from watching television or having access to other sources of news.

The Institute of Meteorology (Insmet) predicts that the hurricane will hit Cuban soil on Tuesday night and transit from south to north across the island for 12 hours, keeping the whole area on alert.

Since this Monday, classes have been suspended throughout the east, as announced in an official note by the Ministry of Education. The measure affects all types and levels of education, whereas in Ciego de Avila, Sancti Spíritus, Cienfuegos and Villa Clara, teaching activities are being gradually discontinued only in internal schools, while the other educational levels remain under observation.

In the west, from Matanzas to Pinar del Río, including Isla de la Juventud, classes will be held normally, although they could be canceled according to the evolution of the hurricane. The Ministry called on the population to maintain “prudence, solidarity and responsibility” in the care of children and teenagers.

In addition, as of yesterday, departures of major national trains and all local and interprovincial services from Las Tunas to Guantánamo were canceled,

In addition, since yesterday, the departures of the main national trains and all local and interprovincial services from Las Tunas to Guantánamo have been canceled, which implies the total disconnection of the eastern region by rail. As for road transport, since 1:00 pm on Monday they have not suspended national bus services, including those of Viazul, from and to the eastern provinces.

in the complete disconnection of rail services to the eastern region. Regarding road transport, as of 1:00 p.m. this Monday, all national bus services, including those operated by Viazul, to and from the eastern provinces are suspended.

Domestic and international flights to and from Santiago and Holguín scheduled for October 28 and 29 are canceled, as is the Batabanó maritime transport in Nueva Gerona and Cayo Largo del Sur.

The presidents of the provincial Defense Councils declared themselves to be on “alert” in a videoconference about their work to protect people and vital resources, the development of evacuation centers and food processing, as well as multi-channel communication. The fear, in the midst of a very precarious situation for Cuba, is enormous.

In the provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Las Tunas, protection is provided for 258,579 and 72,000 persons respectively. In addition, 110,000 residents will be evacuated in Granma, 69,000 in Holguín and 139,914 in Guantánamo. In total, about 7% of the Cuban population is on alert because of Melissa, according to official figures.

The director of Insmet, Celso Pazos, specified that Melissa is a hurricane of “great intensity,” accompanied by winds exceeding 124 mph and intense rains that represent one of the most “dangerous” factors of this system, which will generate floods upon its arrival on the southeastern coast of Cuba.

The accumulation of rain is estimated to be between 10 and 15 inches over 34 or 48 hours and will be higher in mountainous areas. Sea penetrations are also expected on the south coast, at its entrance, and in the north, at its exit, with coastal flooding.

General Ramón Pardo Guerra, head of the National Civil Defense Staff, reported that several hundred people, including tourists, will be evacuated due to the rains that are already occurring. “It is a situation that will continue to become more complex due to the saturation of soils,” he said.

The foreseeable threat of Melissa to Cuba has Imelda as its closest antecedent, the tropical storm that hit eastern Cuba at the end of last September with heavy rains. It left two dead, several thousand displaced, flooding, landslides, overflowing rivers and house collapses, among other damage.

In Granma province, Yudelkis Ortiz Barceló, first secretary of the provincial committee of the Communist Party, said the territory has been preparing for a week, with 98 critical areas identified and 224 evacuation centers prepared. Food processing sites have also been set up. The official said that sanitation and clearing, the pruning of branches and other cleaning activities have also been carried out.

Fifteen percent of the population in Granma is on alert, including 470 pregnant women who have been admitted to shelters because they live in vulnerable areas or are at some kind of risk. In addition, there are 116 families being protected, and yesterday, Sunday, most of the evacuations began and were carried out with “rigor and discipline,” according to Ortiz.

In addition, there are 116 protected families, and yesterday, Sunday, most of the evacuations began and were carried out with “rigor and discipline,” according to Ortiz

Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, the party’s first secretary in Santiago de Cuba, used the same words. There, nine municipal defense councils and the 126 area-level defense councils have been activated. Twenty-five percent (258,573 people) are in protection plans while the water in the most important reservoirs has been released. The official said that special attention is being paid to the coffee harvest, “since there is enough ripe coffee for 49,000 cans.”

In Holguín, there are plans to evacuate 305,530 people to the 151 available centers. Joel Queipo Ruiz, first secretary of the provincial committee of the Party, said that they are “preparing for the worst scenario, so that nothing surprises us.”

Meanwhile, Yoel Pérez, his counterpart in Guantánamo, said that 30% of the population, some 140,000 people, are on alert, and 108 centers are available. Las Tunas has 113 shelters for the 72,000 people whose evacuation is planned, said Osbel Lorenzo Rodríguez, first secretary of the provincial committee.

Cuban meteorologists have warned that the current hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, which runs from June 1 to November 30, will be “very active, “with the possible formation of eight hurricanes.

According to their forecasts, the probability that at least one hurricane will originate and intensify in the Caribbean is high (75%), while it is 50% for one from the Atlantic to penetrate the Caribbean Sea and affect Cuba.

In the 2024 season, two hurricanes hit the island. The first was Oscar, a category 1, which struck the east of Cuba. A month later came Rafael, category 3, which punished the west and caused the total collapse of the national electrical system.

In its passage through Haiti, Melissa remains a threat and has left three dead and 16 wounded, as well as 10 houses damaged and 450 flooded

In its passage through Haiti, Melissa remains a threat and has left three dead and 16 wounded, as well as 10 houses damaged and 450 flooded, according to the latest assessment of the Directorate of Civil Protection. “Given the amount of rain falling, there are risks of flooding and landslides, as the soil is saturated with water,” said the authorities.

For his part, the president of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, called this Sunday to move towards “normality” after several days with most of the provinces on red alert and the working day suspended.

The Dominican Emergency Operations Center (COE) yesterday decided to reduce the alert level for four provinces in the southwest of the country, while 13 others are on yellow and the same amount are on green.

So far, Melissa has caused one death and flooding in Dominican territory, and the COE indicated that there are “735 damaged houses, 3,765 displaced persons, four active shelters, with 77 people housed and 48 communities incommunicado.”

The forecast is that Melissa will hit Jamaica as a hurricane on Monday and Cuba on Tuesday or Wednesday, in addition to causing rain in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, where one million people were left without water.

The National Hurricane Center warns the people of Jamaica not to leave shelter, since there is a high risk of flash floods and catastrophic landslides up to Tuesday morning.

In addition, it reminds people that destructive winds, especially in mountainous areas, will begin tonight and could cause serious damage to infrastructure, power outages and long-term communications, leaving communities isolated.

Translated by Regina Anavy

Cuban Doctor Arrested in South Africa for Medicine Theft

The doctor has also been part of medical brigades in Venezuela, Pakistan and Brazil

A routine check found “unauthorized” drugs in her bag and office / Screen capture

14ymedio, Havana, 26 October 2025 — Cuban doctor Yamilet Castañeda was arrested for stealing medications in South Africa. According to a report published this Saturday by the Police Service of that country, the event occurred on September 2, when the 54-year-old woman was checked by a guard at the hospital where she practices in Thabazimbi, in the province of Limpopo, in the north of the country. During the “routine” check, “unauthorized” drugs were found in her bag, so she was taken to her office, where another search turned up more drugs.

According to the report, the woman, born in Camagüey according to her Facebook profile, was accused by the police, and more than a month and a half later, “after the investigation, the suspect was apprehended upon her return to South Africa from Cuba on October22.”

One day later, Yamilet Castañeda appeared before the Thabazimbi Magistrate’s Court and was subsequently released “with a warning,” as the investigation continues. The case was postponed until October 28 “for further presentation of evidence.”

The police report states that she was subsequently released “with a warning”

The doctor, very active on social networks, posted photographs of her workplace and pointed out that she has been part of medical brigades in Venezuela, Pakistan and Brazil, as well as South Africa, “countries that have allowed me to grow professionally and personally.”

She also said that the medical profession chose “to bully” her because “I had no vocation for it, and those who know me know that I prefer the arts.” She even said that she did some “group B and C entrance tests. My first continue reading

choice was Journalism, but they chose Medicine for me.* Otherwise I would be who knows where and writing who knows what.”

She also praised South Africa, “which has made me fall in love with my profession and taken me to the limit, but with effort I have managed, although I know that I still have a long way to go.”

Some South Africans have reacted to the news on social media. South Africa Vibes reports that the arrest “has sparked public outrage and rekindled debate about why the South African government continues to hire foreign doctors, especially Cubans, while hundreds of South African medical school graduates remain unemployed.”

The arrest “has sparked public outrage and rekindled debate on why the South African government continues to hire foreign doctors”

The message adds that “for years, government officials have defended the controversial medical cooperation program between Cuba and South Africa, arguing that it covers the shortage of qualified professionals in rural hospitals. However, critics argue that it is an insult to local talent, and now incidents like this raise questions about accountability, background checks and fairness in public health recruitment.”

At the beginning of 2024, South Africa estimated that nearly 700 national doctors were unable to find employment in the public sector, a figure which the government said was better than last year’s figure of 800.

“It is simply strange that we spend so much money on training local doctors and that so many of them are unemployed,” said Jack Bloom, a local politician and member of the Democratic Alliance, who has been monitoring and denouncing the hiring of doctors from Havana for years.

“It’s simply strange that we spend so much money on training local doctors and that so many of them are unemployed”

In 1996, South Africa and Cuba signed a bilateral agreement to launch the Nelson Mandela/Fidel Castro Medical Collaboration Program. The agreement seeks to address “the excessive concentration of health personnel in urban areas and the exclusionary private sector, as well as to increase the number of qualified health professionals,” said the then Minister for International Relations and Cooperation, Naledi Pandor, during a parliamentary debate about Cuba.

The Cuba-South Africa relationship has since left controversial episodes, such as the payment of $225,000 during one year to seven Cuban doctors who worked in that country, out of a group of 28 hired in 2020, to help at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic but had already returned to the Island by that time, or the disbursement of $750,000 from South Africa annually for 11 Cuban doctors.

*Translator’s note: Cubans cannot choose their own vocation; they go “where the Revolution needs” them.

Translated by Regina Anavy

US Thanks Cuba for Its ‘Valuable Collaboration’ in the Extradition of Chinese Drug Lord Brother Wang

This Thursday, Havana returned Zhi Dong Zhang to Mexico, and he is now in the Washington

Zhi Dong Zhang was extradited by Cuba to Mexico, which handed him over to the US immediately. / Omar H Garcia Harfuch

14ymedio, Madrid, October 24, 2025 — The capo of fentanyl, “Brother Wang,” is now in the US. Zhi Dong Zhang, a Chinese national, first left Havana, where he had been arrested on 31 July 2025, according to a statement made public yesterday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The authorities spoke for the first time about the arrest and extradition of the drug trafficker, returned to Mexico at the request of that country and “by decision of the Cuban government,” says the statement.

The brief communication also states that Zhi “was arrested for offenses committed in the national territory of document forgery and human trafficking, as provided for in the Cuban Penal Code, and he was under provisional detention. Since July 2025 he has been a fugitive from the Mexican authorities, a country where he was serving a sentence for crimes associated with international drug trafficking.”

Shortly thereafter, Mexican Security Secretary, Omar García Harfuch, confirmed his surrender to Washington, which had him targeted as a priority because of his international criminal drug trafficking network, which cooperated with the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.

Washington had Zhi targeted as a priority because of his international criminal drug trafficking network, which cooperated with the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels

Harfuch made the result public through his X account with an unusual gesture: he thanked Cuba “for its valuable collaboration.” “As a result of investigations, international cooperation and coordination, on October 30, 2024, the Mexican authorities of the Security Cabinet of the Government of Mexico arrested in Mexico City Zhi Dong “N,” identified as responsible for international drug trafficking, money laundering and alliances with criminal groups present in the Americas, Europe and Asia, and who has a Red Notice from Interpol,” he explained.

“On July 11, 2025, he escaped from the authorities after a judge granted him house arrest, so a search operation was implemented and international bodies were alerted. He was arrested in Cuba on July 31, along with two other persons, and today he has been handed over to US authorities as a result of efforts made by the Office of the Attorney-General of the Republic of Mexico,” he adds, listing all the Mexican security forces that participated in the operation, as well as the institutions.

Zhi has at least one case pending in Georgia — the charges were upheld by a federal court six days after his escape — which accuses him of having laundered at least 20 million dollars in the country through 150 shell companies and 170 bank accounts between 2020 and 2021. The arrest of one of his partners, Ruipeng Li, made it possible to determine how Zhi operated the criminal network and collected money through it from the sale of the drug and laundered it in China.

The arrest of one of his partners, Ruipeng Li, made it possible to determine how he operated the criminal network through which Zhi, inside a Mexican cell, collected money from the sale of fentanyl and laundered it in China

At this point in the investigation, they knew how the money transfers were made and what the products were called — “coffee” was fentanyl and “food” was cocaine — and that 2,000 kilos of the first and 1,000 of the second had been moved.

Zhi was arrested in Mexico in October 2024 and placed in a maximum security prison, but a judge decided to grant him house arrest under military custody, a measure that ended up favoring his escape on July 11, 2025. According to the Mexican press, while the precautionary measure was being applied for, his partners tunneled into the house and, once granted, the authorities did not properly review the conditions of the property.

Brother Wang, also known as El Chino, Tocayo, Pancho and Nelson Mandela, had several false identities and tried to reach Russia with a fake passport but failed. He then went to the Island in the same way, but there he was arrested and taken into custody. According to some Mexican analysts, the Island could have used Zhi to get some diplomatic oxygen at a very delicate geopolitical moment, when its biggest allies on the continent are being besieged by the US.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Matanzas, Cuba, Tries to Move With Electric Tricycles, But the Blackouts Slow the Route

The new fleet of vehicles partially alleviates urban transport, but the lack of electricity and inefficient journeys frustrate drivers and passengers.

Electrical cars are not charging, and gasoline cars are not refueling,” comment Matanzas residents. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Matanzas, Pablo Padilla Cruz, October 26, 2025 — The improvised stop in front of the pre-university school in Matanzas fills up quickly. A group of passengers are waiting their turn for one of the new electric tricycles that cross the city. Some watch the corner where the vehicles should appear; others comment that “they come when they want to.” The scene is repeated every morning since the 15 vehicles assigned to the provincial capital arrived as part of the plan to relieve urban transport.

“Almost none of them go all the way to the Faustino Pérez hospital,” complains Indira, her backpack resting on her knees. “At the beginning of the month I had to take a sick family member there, and neither the electric cars nor the gas cars go that far up. Private motorcycles ask for 400 pesos during the day and whatever they can get at night, up to 800. There is no pocket that can stretch that far.” She sighs and adds: “Luckily, the wide guaguas [buses] still save us for 20 pesos.”

One of the tricycle drivers, Ricardo, defends his reasons for avoiding that route. “These bikes are electric, and going up to the hospital consumes a lot of battery. If we reach the limit, we have to go back to the base to recharge, and that makes us waste time and money. We pay to rent the tricycles and also for fixing them when they break. Right now there are three tricycles out of use, and all indications are that their repair will come out of the pockets of those who rent them.”

He says that the problem is not exclusive to the electric ones. “It also takes more gas to go up there, and without a monthly quota, we can’t afford it. continue reading

That is why many drivers prefer to take short routes or charge more to go up there.”

Three months after the arrival of the tricycles, transportation officials acknowledge that “they don’t solve the underlying problem.” / 14ymedio

The Faustino Perez hospital, built on the outskirts of the city under an old development plan that never prospered, has become a hard-to-reach site. Its isolation is compounded by the prolonged blackouts, affecting both medical services and the transport system. When electricity is lacking, charging tricycles becomes a headache, a problem that 14ymedio has also documented in provinces such as Havana, Holguín, Villa Clara and Las Tunas.

In Matanzas, the arrival of tricycles was received with anticipation. But three months later, transport officials admit that they “do not solve the underlying problem.” In addition to the difficulties of getting to the hospital, residents question why the city received only 15 vehicles while Cárdenas, much smaller, got 10. “The routes to the bus terminal are also interrupted,” explains a sector employee. “Until the repair of the building is completed and the terminal returns to its original location, the Terminal-Pre route will not be able to operate.”

The Minister of Transport, Eduardo Rodríguez Dávila, admitted earlier this month that the project faces “concrete limitations that condition coverage and frequency.” According to the official, who is the most active on social networks of the entire Cabinet, the city’s slopes use up the battery charges, forcing some vehicles to return before noon to the charging base.

“The electric cars are not charged, and the gasoline cars are not fueled.”

Despite the justifications, the people of Matanzas agree that the State’s tricycle system barely alleviates the transport shortage. In a city where traditional bus routes are a thing of the past, the workers’ buses from the Varadero beach resort have also been reduced, due to the tourism crisis. “The new tricycles are not so new anymore,”says a neighbor, observing the traffic. ” Sometimes you see them outside the service hours, going empty, at the service of their drivers but not the people.”

The picture is aggravated by both the fuel and electricity crises. “The electric cars are not charged, and the ones that use gasoline do not have fuel,” summarizes Indira, as she finally climbs onto one of the tricycles that arrives at the stop just as rush hour begins and anxiety is at its peak.

The vehicle starts up with a slight hum and moves slowly down the avenue. Behind is the sidewalk, full of distressed passengers who have the feeling that, in Matanzas, every solution depends on the next cut off of the electricity.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba: How Long Will This Suffering Last?

It is not the virus that is making Cubans sick, it’s the system

[In a country with no drinking water, no electricity, no garbage collection, no medicine or hospitals that work, everything is possible except for a life of dignity. / 14ymedio

14ymedio, Madrid, Eugenia Gutiérrez, October 26, 2025 — A few days ago, Cuba’s Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, was obligated to break his silence in the face of what could be the biggest epidemiological crisis that the Island has experienced in recent times.

Specifically, he said: “The situation is under control,” and “we have to convey to people that we know we have problems, but we are doing everything to save their lives.” With these words, the minister broke the silence, yes, but remained in denial, the usual practice of a regime that avoids accountability by any means. If the magnitude of the tragedy is denied, scrutiny is reduced.

Today in Cuba there are three viruses circulating simultaneously: dengue, chikungunya and oropouche, along with nine respiratory viruses, as well as an alarming increase in acute diarrhoeal diseases and cases of hepatitis A. This means entire families are infected, from children to the elderly, without adequate resources or assistance.

Of the country’s 15 provinces, these viruses are present in 12, as recently recognized by Doctor Francisco Duran Garcia, national director of Epidemiology, a face known to Cubans since the covid-19 pandemic. As a result, according to official data, 80 per cent of the national territory is continue reading

currently affected.

This systematic denial once again breaks the hearts of Cubans

As for the number of deaths, Doctor Duran himself stated on October 8 that there were not 11 deaths a day, as was being said, nor were the hospitals collapsed. Again the discourse of denial, and the opacity and lies that no one believes anymore.

This systematic denial once again breaks the hearts of Cubans who suffer from these diseases themselves. Many report the lack of reagents to identify the viruses, a shortage of serums and medicines, and the collapse of hospitals.

In the absence of official transparency and the silence of the authorities, it has been the citizens themselves who have taken on the role of warning, denouncing and telling the truth about what is happening. They are victims of the abandonment of a regime that, instead of taking responsibility, shifts the burden to the people, requiring them to implement impossible measures in the midst of endless blackouts, lack of water and the accumulation of garbage on every corner.

Cuba needs a change of system, not palliatives and empty promises

Cubans once again are depending on aid from the exile community, which the regime itself is forced to accept but never acknowledges

The health crisis is not an isolated fact: it is the reflection of a failed state, a structural and multidimensional crisis that has only one possible exit. It’s not the virus that is making Cubans sick, it’s the system. In a country with no drinking water, no electricity, no garbage collection, no medicines and no functioning hospitals, everything is possible except for a life of dignity.

How long will this suffering last? How long will there be this official resistance, for which the Cuban people themselves pay? Cuba needs a change in the system, not palliatives or empty promises, because only when the system changes can lives be saved.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Cuba: Voluntary Work, Compulsory Enthusiasm

How the ideal of the New Man turned into an empty rite that Cubans transformed with humor and resistance

As they used to say, now with resigned insight, voluntary work “builds character.”/ Victoria

14ymedio, Malaga, José A. Adrián Torres, October 25, 2025 — As a child in Spain, in the camps of the Catholic Scout Movement, I remember that there was also something called volunteer work. It was carried out on Saturdays and consisted of performing tasks, which although they appeared to be spontaneous, were actually assigned in advance. Everything had to be done “of its own accord” but under the eyes of the “pack leaders,” referring to the The Jungle Book that was a reference for the Cub Scouts movement.

That routine, a mixture of discipline and fervor, was clothed in a mystique: to serve others joyfully under the motto vale quien sirve, We Serve. Over the years I understood that beyond youthful idealism, it was also a form of directed moral learning, an obedience wrapped in enthusiasm.

In Cuba, that spirit of cheerful discipline and youthful symbolism had its own version: a kind of tropical Baden-Powell Scouts Association

The so-called “voluntary work” was never exactly a practice of solidarity, but rather an ideological tool designed to shape the new citizen: austere, loyal, cooperative, obedient. As a Cuban friend commented to me, “Its value was not productive but formative, to transform the young person into a collective being, to go from the self to the collective.” The goal was not the amount of cane cut, but the reformed soul with revolutionary spirit.

The rituals of the socialist utopia, copied from the Soviet model, met with an obstacle in the Caribbean that was impossible to overcome: the Creole and Hispanic idiosyncrasies of Cervantes

That moral training project also had its class bias: the intended to ‘proletarize’ the remnants of the bourgeoisie, discipline the professional and domesticate the peasant farmers, who were clinging to their land like the wealthy kulaks did to theirs, when Lenin wanted to make an example of them. But the dreamed-of New Man ended up wanting to be a foreigner–and many did–or he merely got old.

In a way, the system of pioneers with red bandanas — copied from the USSR and countries like Romania and East Germany — recalled the Scout movement, although under another banner and another creed: that of the Revolution.

But the result was different. The rituals of the socialist utopia, copied from the Soviet model, met with an obstacle in the Caribbean that was impossible to overcome: the Creole and Hispanic spirit of Cervantes.

The tropical culture did not fit with parades, uniforms or doctrinal solemnity. Where communism called for fervor and discipline, the Cuban responded with a story — a joke, a chiste, we would say in Spain. Where heroism was required, mockery was born.

Popular humor and passive resistance were disguised in Cuba as “revolutionary participation.” Volunteer work was thus transformed into a layperson’s mass in which the faithful feigned devotion while whispering jokes.

Jorge Mañach had accurately described it decades earlier, defining the joking as “a mockery of any non-imperative form of authority, the art of not taking anything seriously. The Spanish chiste had a close relative: the Andalusian guasa, banter, that sarcastic and corrosive irony that — like the choteo — disarms solemnity with a smile, especially in its most popular and festive form: the carnival, with its satirical chirigotas — limericks — and cuplés, couplets.

Voluntary work, conceived as an academy of socialist conscience, turned out to be a masquerade of appearances

Deep down, voluntary work was the apotheosis of that conflict between obedience and humor. It was a faithless liturgy, an obligatory sacrifice to demonstrate ideological purity. And the Cuban, who cannot stand inflated pomp without a nickname or a joke, turned the ideal of the New Man into a tragicomic character: a hero of the sugarcane harvest with a rogue soul of the Golden Age, apparently devoted but a master in the art of escaping with wit.

That attitude, so Cuban, has deeper roots: it is inherited from the Hispanic spirit, that mocking skepticism that runs through Lazarillo and Quixote, where laughter does not destroy but plays down dogma. Cervantes ridiculed chivalrous dreams with the same ingenuity that Cubans parodied revolutionary fervor: both made humor and sarcasm a form of lucidity.

When the communist ideal traveled from the Russian steppes to the Caribbean beaches, it changed its accent and temperature. The parades were filled with music, slogans were made into songs and collectivism became a pretext for excuses, so classic and “evocative” in more than one sense for Cubans in the so-called schools in the countryside.

Communism, when it arrived in Cuba, was tropicalized: it gained rhythm, but lost gravity. And the voluntary work, envisioned as an academy of socialist conscience, ended up being a masquerade of appearances, in which everyone complied so they wouldn’t be reported. They pretended to obey but laughed inside, in order to not surrender.

Perhaps that laugh was the most Cuban of all forms of resistance. It was not epic or head-on, but effective: an intimate resistance, intelligent, like Sancho Panza, against the pomp of power.

As many said — now with resigned lucidity — voluntary work “builds character,” or even that crueler joke, that you would get “a kick in the butt” as a stimulus. In these minimal phrases a whole philosophy was condensed: obey without believing; laugh without ceasing to survive. Voluntary work, in short, did not create the New Man. What it formed was the national vanguard joker, able to feign enthusiasm while mocking, in silence, the solemnity that oppressed him.

Humor has been, for Cubans, their manual of resistance to the bitter drink that the bartender of the country’s history served them… and which history itself will not absolve.

Acknowledmemts:
I would like to thank Jorge Mayor Ríos for his valuable contributions, comments and suggestions to this text, the result of long conversations that over the years helped me better understand the complex contemporary history of revolutionary Cuba and the peculiarities of the Cuban soul. It was also he who, for the first time, put in my hands the essays of Jorge Mañach, the starting point for many of the ideas developed here.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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Mexico Has “Surplus Diesel” To Export to Cuba Because It Also Buys From the US

Expert Jorge Piñón questions the MCCI data on exports of crude oil and derivatives worth 3 billion dollars between May and August 2025

“Thanks to these imports from the US, Mexico can afford to export diesel to Cuba,” explains Jorge Piñón. / EFE

14ymedio, Havana, October 17, 2025 — Mexico has a fuel deficit, not a surplus, as stated by the president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, to justify the export of diesel to Cuba, say experts in the energy sector speaking to 14ymedio. The alleged “surplus” is due to the fact that Mexico imports diesel and gasoline from the US, being its largest buyer of refined fuels, according to official data published by the US Energy Information Administration.

“Thanks to these imports from the US, Mexico can afford to export diesel to Cuba,” explains Jorge Piñón, a researcher at the University of Texas in Austin. Mexico is not supposed to send US fuel to the Island; it must send fuel produced by its own refineries. According to information published in the specialized press, Mexico imported 61% of its gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from the US, about 787,000 barrels per day in 2024.

“A part of Mexico’s imports come from the Pemex refinery located in Texas City, one of the largest on the Gulf coast, with a daily production of 275,000 barrels,” says Piñón.

Both Mexico and Cuba refuse to publish data on the sale of hydrocarbons

Questioned about this on Thursday in her usual morning conference, the Mexican president confirmed that her country is exporting oil to Cuba, although without specifying how much or for what price. “Yes, it is buying fuel, as other countries buy. Now there is a particular surplus of diesel and it is being exported,” she replied to a journalist who asked how much oil is being provided to the Island, in exchange for what, and how it is delivered. continue reading

Tanto México como Cuba se niegan a publicar los datos sobre la compraventa de hidrocarburos e intentan mantener el secreto sobre los movimientos de tanqueros desde los puertos de Coatzacoalcos-Pajaritos (Veracruz) y Tampico (Tamaulipas) hacia la Isla. Esta opacidad ha llevado a una organización de la sociedad civil, Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad(MCCI), a investigar ese comercio.

Both Mexico and Cuba refuse to publish data on the sale of hydrocarbons and try to keep secret the movements of tankers from the ports of Coatzacoalcos-Pajaritos (Veracruz) and Tampico (Tamaulipas) to the Island. This opacity has led a civil society organization, Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad (MCCI), to investigate this trade.

In a report published on October 13, the MCCI gave shocking figures: “The value of hydrocarbons sent by Mexico to Cuba between May and August 2025 exceeds three billion dollars, equivalent to about 60 billion pesos, according to records on foreign trade platforms consulted by the MCCI.” It also stated that Mexican customs had recorded 58 shipments of hydrocarbons to Cuba in those same months.

“Cuba does not have enough storage capacity for these barrels reported by the MCCI”

Piñón believes that “the MCCI has misinterpreted Mexican Customs data and that, on the contrary, Pemex is having problems with light crude oil production.” This has resulted in a substantial decline in their oil exports in 2025. “I understand that Mexico is not currently shipping oil to Cuba. According to Vessel Finder, this Friday, the Cuba-flagged tankers used on the Pajaritos/Tampico-Cienfuegos route are in Cuban ports: the Lourdes in Nipe, the Alicia in Matanzas, the Delsa in Cienfuegos, the Vilma in Santiago and the Petion in Cienfuegos.”

The expert explains that “Cuba does not have the storage capacity for these barrels reported by the MCCI. It should be remembered that Cuba lost one million barrels of storage capacity with the Matanzas fire in August 2022. In addition, floating storage systems with coastal tankers are now being used to store the domestic oil that accumulates in non-operational thermal power plants.”

Translated by Regina Anavy

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